Top Six Stories In The Last Two Weeks (plus a little bit)

CMLL announced Dos Leyendas 2012 would take place March 15th. The main event will be the Japanese midcard team of Namajague & Okumura versus the Mexican midcard team of Stuka Jr. & Rey Cometa, with each teaming putting both mask and hair on the line. Estrellita and Amapola will have a hair vs hair match as well. The luchador honored this year is Rayo de Jalisco Sr., and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. returns to the promotion as part of that celebration. He’ll have a match with also returning Universo 2000 (probably a trios.) Finally, the annual parajes increible tournament will finish up at Dos Leyendas, and should build strongly towards CMLL’s plans for their 80th Anniversario show this September. CMLL also announced dates for Arena Mexico & Arena Coliseo anniversary shows in April.

The big news on AAA shows hasn’t been an in-ring result, but the onscreen firing of Dorian Roldan and Konnan, leaders of the rudo Sociedad faction. The two had spent the previous portion of the TV taping firing tecnicos who had annoyed him (minor names and a referee) before Joaquin Roldan fired them. All of the rudos present turned on the leader when threatened with their own firing. It was quite a reversal, as the last major show had ended with Dorian & Konnan threatening to leave the company and take all the rudo champs with them but were forced to stay by Joqauin; everyone’s feelings seemed to pivot 180 degrees in the course of a TV taping for no known reason. It’s also odd Joaquin had the power to fire the guys who had been doing evil deeds in his promotion for years and never got around to doing until now – in fact, the show with their firing indicated he might not be able to do that, and it might annuled or changed in a skit to air this weekend. In reality, it seems as though Dorian and Roldan will be focusing on the soon to launch US wing of the AAA promotion, and this bit might be a setup to explain why that group exists.

The big news with AAA but not on their shows has been Dr. Wagner’s continued insistence that he doesn’t work for AAA anymore. Wagner has said he’s finished with AAA (on good terms) and about to join CMLL since December, but it got added attention of late because Wagner said it for video cameras instead of print, and because Luchas 2000’s cover stated he’d be on the Dos Leyendas show. That does not appear to be the case, and CMLL’s said in the past they have no interested in bringing Wagner back. Wagner always notes he just has a small legal issue with AAA, which AAA claims is he’s actually under contract until 2014. At the same time, AAA hasn’t used him on any of their TV tapings all year, explaining they won’t use him until he admits he’s under contract. There is no reason to believe Dr. Wagner’s story, but 90% of fans in Mexico appear to believe it anyway. Dr. Wagner Jr. may be in possession of a reality distortion field.

AAA announced Rey de Reyes 2013 would take place March 17th in Monterrey, but has not indicated any matches for the show. The taping lineups and results, all the way up to the taping prior to the show, have not given away a match from the show. Texano defending his title vs Mesias and/or an outside wrestler and a team match with Cibernetico and Perro are the best bets for the top matches. Nothing is very clear, unusual for an AAA show this close to a major show and giving the impression this won’t be as major a show as in prior years.

AAA’s taping in Irapuato saw two title changes. Dinastia won the AAA minis title over Mini Psicosis, in a feud that’s led to an adjacent Drago vs Nicho Psicosis rivalry. The Psycho Circus won the AAA Trios titles back, defeating the El Consejo team with Toscano completed his tecnico turn.

Sombra beat Volador to win CMLL Reyes del Aires. This was the biggest field ever for the tournament, 32 wrestlers over two weeks. The tournament ended with both guys pulling each others masks and Sombra coming out on top on the cradle. Post match included mask vs mask challenges (which appear to have no chance of happening.)

Other Stories Of Note

Astro de Plata, a Mexico City based tecnico who had worked for IWRG and had recently been used in opening matches on AAA tapings, suffered major spinal injuries on an indy show. Plata and his opponent Terremoto miscommunicated on a move, and all of Terremoto’s (large) weight came down on Plata’s spine as he hit the mat. Plata lost feeling in his lower body and has since undergone surgery. Various promotions and luchadors have held fund raisers to help offset his large medical costs. A few days after Plata’s injury, the Mexico City lucha libre commission announced they’d soon start offering health insurance to independent luchadors. This had been a project the commission and the Mexico sports ministry had been working on since last year, and coincidentally announced around the same time as someone who really could’ve used it.

AAA announced their first Fusion taping of the year for 03/01. It’s the first taping exclusively for that show since November; they’ve made due with a Perros del Mal show, a WAVE/AAA show in Japan, and lots and lots of reruns. The show continues their Fusion tournament, and also starts one for the abruptly vacant Reina de Reinas championship. Sexi Star, who has been in a match since December, announced she was giving up the title but did not announce why.

Trauma II vs Angel for the masks will take place next Sunday for IWRG. IWRG is the one DF based promotion who’s successfully built to a big match for their March show. Everyone knows how it’s going to go, but there’s a little bit of doubt there.

The Brazo family sold out Arena Neza show for an event based on their family having (and winning matches.) The AAA members were restricted from working the show, but all appeared on the show. Goya Kong & Muneca de Plata were part of a women’s trios win, Brazo Cibernetico won a cibernetico (!), Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata were part of a winning atomicos team in a battle of former UWA wrestlers, and La Mascara & Maximo won a tag team tournament with some assistance from Psycho Clown (the ex-Brazo de Plata Jr.)

Octagon Jr., who debuted that character for AAA on Guerra de Titanes, missed his next scheduled appearance to work for an ill-fated show in Canada, then missed his second scheduled appearance to go tryout for WWE. He’s scheduled to be back on the first TV Taping in March, which would be a 3 months gap from his debut.

Villano V announced a retirement show for March, with a ruleta de la muerte where the losing team will lose both their mask and hair. The tournament is filled with big names (names who wouldn’t be expected to lose in a tournament like this), so it’s either the Villanos themselves lose their mask and hair in Villano V’s last match, or Casandro loses his hair and Hijo del Pirata Morgan loses his mask.

Hijo del Santo announced the return of Todos x el Todos, with a card at Arena Lopez Mateos in March. It’s a much smaller venue than the promotion was running, back when it was still running shows last year.

Thunder, CMLL’s new muscular mask Australian, has been kept in Puebla and Guadalajara (and missed time with a leg injury.) Early reviews of his work has been poor. He won’t make his first Arena Mexico appearance until 03/29. Mistico has also recently returned from injury, and is also being kept out of Arena Mexico for the moment.

Rush missed some time with a leg injury, suffered in a singles win over Ultimo Guerrero. He returned the following Sunday for an already announced trios title match against the Invasors. Rush and the rest of the Bufete del Amor won, but was limping significantly by the end of the match. There’s no

CMLL early match tecnico Metalico, who’s hasn’t had a meaningful match in CMLL for about a decade (but has had plenty of matches), is suddenly feuding with about four different people. No one’s quite sure what’s going on here, but cage match is the best bet.

People who won titles: Los Pirata Morgans (Mexico State Trios), Carta Brava Jr., other people I forgot to list

People who kept their titles: Negro Casas, Polvora, Dragon Rojo, La Sombra, Invasors, other people I forgot to list